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Good year for new mortgages

Date: 24 Jan 05

The number of new mortgages agreed last year represented an increase on 2003, according to new figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).

Figures released today show that in 2004 the number of new entrants to the property market increased on the previous year.

And with stable interest rates and low house price growth expected for 2005, things will only get better.

Michael Coogan, director general of the CML, commented: "Over the year as a whole we anticipate a stable [mortgage] market, with a healthy level of activity but without the dramatic increases in house prices and lending volumes experienced in 2004.

"Against this backdrop, homeowners are likely to lose some of their appetite for borrowing against their housing equity, and first-time buyers may well see affordability constraints ease a little as their earnings have a chance to grow more quickly than house prices."

CML figures show that 31 per cent of loans for house purchases went to first-time buyers in 2004, up from 2003's 29 per cent.

The CML's findings will come as good news to people with bad credit who wish to buy their first house.

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